There was a time when heavy metal band Mötley Crüe represented all that parents feared about what their children listened to — loud, fast, music and debauchery that led to brushes with the law, substance addictions and well-documented escapades with women.

But singer/front man Vince Neil says he’s comfortable with the band’s position these days as it celebrates its 30th anniversary with a tour with Poison and New York Dolls that stops Sunday at Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain in Scranton.

The band’s catalog is so extensive — 25 Top 40 Mainstream rock hits, starting with 1983’s “Shout at the Devil” and including Top 10 hits “Dr. Freelgood,” “Girls, Girls, Girls” and “Without You” -- that for this tour, Mötley Crüe let its fans choose online the 11 songs it performs.

The band also has six Top 10 albums, including its latest, 2008’s “Saints of Los Angeles,” which went to No. 4. In all, Motley Crüe has sold 25 million albums in the United States alone.

In a recent telephone call from Detroit, Neil talked about the band’s history, legacy and future. Here’s a transcript of the call:

LEHIGH VALLEY MUSIC: Hey Vince, how are you?

VINCE NEIL: “All right. How’s it going?”

Just fine thanks. So how’s the tour going?

“The tour’s going great. We’re about two months into the tour; we started in South America. All the shows, if they’re not sold out, they’re right there at sellout. The fans are just digging it. Nothing but great reviews on everybody. And it’s a lot of fun.”

Tell me what to expect from the tour. I’ve read that you guys are doing sets that were entirely chosen by fans, and I’ll ask about that in a minute. But when I come to the show, what am I going to see? (Continued)

“Well, you’re going to see something you’ve never seen before. You’re going to see just a lot of over-the-top pyro, visual effects, lighting. We have dancers, background singers. And then Tommy’s drum solo is the roller-coaster.”

I read about that. [Reports say there’s a massive iron roller coaster loop on stage, and on drummer Tommy Lee’s solo, his drum set does a handful of 360-degree loops on the track and invites an audience member along for the ride].

“Yeah, so it’s a visually amazing show.”

Vince Neil

Now, tell me about you guys reportedly playing a set list that was chosen by fans. How did that go?

“Well, not the set list, the songs. Eleven song were chosen. A lot of the songs we had already figured out. We already knew some of what would be chosen — you know, ‘Girls, Girls, Girls,’ ‘[Dr.] Feelgood,’ those ones were pretty obvious. But a few of the songs, like ‘Smokin’ in the Boys Room,’ we hadn’t played that in like 20 years, but everybody wants to hear it. You know, ‘Too Young to Fall in Love,’ ‘Ten Seconds to Love,’ ‘Too Fast for Love.’ You know, all the songs are chosen by the fans but a lot of them we hadn’t played in a long time.”

How difficult was it for you guys to ramp up on those songs again?

“We only rehearsed for three days.”

You so basically rehearsed on the road or what?

“No, no. We rehearsed for three days, the songs, and went on tour.”

Wow! It came back that quickly?

“Well, yeah. I mean, these are songs we played forever, except for some of the newer songs. And you play some of this throughout your whole life, it’s not that difficult.”

OK. You guys are celebrating your 30th anniversary as a band. Tell me how that feels.

“Well, I mean, you say 30 years, it’s like that’s a lifetime. And it just kinda hasn’t sunk in, but we’re just really lucky that we’re still viable in today’s market. Music and live concert show. You know, it’s not just the fans that grew up with us, it’s 12- and 13-year-olds with ‘Shout at the Devil’ shirts on. And an attorney standing next to a biker. And kids — like 5-year-olds on their fathers’ shoulders for their first concert experience. So together you get 27,000 fans.”

So what’s the relationship like between you guys these days?

“Well, I mean, we’re friends. I mean, I don’t know what else to say. It seems that press people just dwell on the fact maybe 10 years ago we got in a fight. You know, it’s not like that. [Laughs]”

OK, and you’ve been reunited since like ’06, so it’s a good five years that you’ve been back together again.

“Yeah, but we were never really apart before that. I mean, we went for what, a year and a half, something like that? But a lot of people just forget that bands just sometimes take breaks. With us, if we don’t tour a year, people figure we’ve broken up. But you look at a band like AC/DC. Who won’t put out a record for four or five years, and nobody seems to think they broke up. It just kind of stupid thinking on people’s parts.”

I mean, that’s a very good point. You make a very good point. I wanted to ask about Mick. How’s his health holding up? Is he OK?

What it like touring with New York Dolls and Poison? Have you have any interaction with them during the tour?

“Well, yeah. Well, yes and no. I mean, we really don’t see each other that much because most people get there at different times. By the time we’re offstage, Poison guys and The Dolls guys are all gone to the next city. So it’s not like we all hang out in one big room and reminisce. It doesn’t work that way. But I’ve been friends with Bret [Michaels of Poison] for a long time, and it’s cool.”

Cool. Have you caught their sets at all?

“It’s hard, because when they’re on stage, I’m getting dressed. So I’m getting ready for the show. So the only time I’ve really seen their show was actually with some of the venues have the TV in the dressing rooms – they have the closed circuit going. So I’ve watched the show that was.”

I wanted to back up a little bit to hen we were talking about the 30th anniversary and the diversity of fans you guys draw these days. I see that at the end of summer, you’re going to be honored at the Sunset Strip Music Festival.

“Right.”

So I’m thinking that could make you feel one of two ways: You could feel like, “Dang, we’re getting old,” or it could feel like, “Man, we really accomplished something.” Do you think about any of those things? Or is it something different?

“No, I mean, to be honored for Sunset Music Festival, it’s really cool. It’s cool that they finally have something to honor bands that started on the strip. And so now it’s our turn. So I think it’s really cool. It’s like when we got our star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That was a huge deal to us, ‘cause we grew up in L.A. So it’s something you never think you would achieve, and then you get it and it’s like, ‘Wow, our star’s on the Walk of Fame.’ It’s cool.”

What’s the status of new music by you guys?

“We’re concentrating on touring right now. So there wouldn’t be anything out till … sometime after the tour [Laughs[“

Have you written or are you talking about songs at all?

“No, no. ‘Cause we’re on tour. This isn’t the time or place to be talking about new music.”

I mean, some bands do that.

“Well, some bands do that, but we don’t.”

Do you ever think about the possibility of another solo disc? ‘Tattoos and Tequila ” did well.

“Yeah. I’ll do something when Motley’s … this tour’s going to take us way like October, November of 2012, we’ll finally wrap this tour up. So that means Motley will have 2013 off, so 2013 I’m probably 99 percent sure I’ll put out another record. I’ll definitely be touring. ‘Cause I always tour on the off years that Motley doesn’t.”

It was very interesting to me when you did “Skating with the Stars.” I read about you had a skating background, but it was just so mainstream for a band that at one time was the bad boys of the rock world. How was your experience with that?

“It was tough. It was the hardest thing I ever did in my life. [Laughs] I didn’t really realize what I was getting into. It sounded like fun. I hadn’t skated since I was 12 years old. I got better than what I started at. When I first got on the ice I could barely skate and by the end I was doing lifts and sh-t like that. But I was on the ice for eight hours a day, five days a week, and it takes a toll on your body. That was a beating. It was like, ‘Oh man.’ And so believe me, I was really happy when I got booted. [Laughs]”

What about the mainstream feel of the show. Is it OK that you guys are now sort of like you fit into the mainstream of society?

“Well yeah. I mean, we are what we are on stage, and we are what we are off stage, you know? We’re definitely not mainstream on stage. We’re still the bad boys, up there doing what we’re doing. It is what it is, you can take It any way you want it. I do things just kind of to plot my career out. If it sounds like fun, I just say, ‘OK, yeah. I’ll do it if I have the time.’ ”

I’m sorry I have to ask this, but I have to ask about the jail sentence. What did you bring away from that?

“Well, I made a mistake. It was one of those things. I was at the Emmy Awards and drank too much and should not have gotten behind the wheel. And that’s really kind of it.”

When you think about how many people go through that every day, it’s just because you are who you are that it seems different for you.

JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.